Former Jersey City Police Chief Robert “Bubba” Cowan retired from law enforcement nearly two years ago, but he has recently decided to try his hand at the private sector by opening a private investigation firm.

“I’ve opened up Cowan Investigations, it’s a private investigation firm and I’m available to do investigations throughout New Jersey,” he told Hudson County View.

“I think that it’s a good thing because of my experience: 34 years on the police department. During my time on the job, I had worked patrol, constantly being on the scenes of crime as a captain, I directed investigations as a deputy chief … and as the chief of police I directed investigations.”

Cowan also noted that over the course of his career, he has worked with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

When asked why Cowan Investigations should be considered a top firm in New Jersey, Cowan said his track record shows proven “management abilities.”

“I certainly will take every case, I work on every case myself, to be involved with the intricacies of every case – even if a case happens to be signed out to one of my investigators, I will be managing it.”

According to his official website, Cowan Investigations specializes in a number of areas including litigation consultation, employee misconduct, security/SORA training, insurance fraud, divorce investigations and various other surveillance matters.

One of then-Councilman Steven Fulop’s top supporters, Cowan helped the challenger unseat incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy in May 2013.

Cowan was sworn in as the city’s top cop in October 2013, just four months after Fulop took office.

However, the two had a falling out and in a totally unexpected move, Fulop removed Cowan as police chief in June 2014.

However, Cowan withdrew the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning he cannot refile, almost exactly one year ago today.

The former Jersey City police chief shed a little light on that situation, as well as what he thinks about the four Jersey City police officers who were charged in a 107-count indictment by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office in June for allegedly working no-show jobs, as well as filing for excessive overtime.

Part 2 of our interview with Cowan will be published tomorrow, September 2.

You would think that a someone with as many connections as he has made over the years would have an easier time than most to have a successful PI firm. While he may have been in the news a lot over the years, most of it will probably only serve to give him name recognition.

Hudson County View is an independent media outlet covering news and politics for Hudson County, NJ, and all of its municipalities. Owned and operated by John Heinis, an investigative reporter, Hudson County View focuses on covering elections, public policy, lawsuits, corruption and all other things related to government and politics in Hudson County.